Ribbon Bottom Jeans

I’ve been wanting to make Hannah some baby jeans for quite a while. Because it was my first time, I wanted to keep it basic. Just a simple pair of pants with an elastic waistband. They turned out a little too simple looking, though, so I decided to dig into my mini ribbon stash to add some embellishment to the cuffs.

The pink with white polka dots ribbon I got from Joann’s. It was originally intended for another project that I lost interest in and never started. The blue and green ribbon was a thrift store find. I’ve never been big on thrift stores, but recently I’ve changed my tune. When I was visiting my in-laws in Arizona over the Christmas holiday, I went with my mother-in-law to this little thrift store called Hidden Treasures. They have so many awesome things for amazing prices. This cut of ribbon, a few yards or so, was only 50 cents! I also scored some other really cute clothes for Hannah. Perhaps my biggest find of all, a pair of seemingly brand new Gap jeans for $1!

(this pic reminds me of Rosie the Riveter for some reason)

So now that I’ve drifted totally off topic…Basically, ribbon bottom jeans are a cinch. Pants sew up pretty quick, especially when you cheat like I did by making each pant leg one piece of fabric so there is no outside leg seam. Once the pants were all sewed together and the legs were hemmed, I simply pinned my ribbon around the cuffs, leaving a little bit of extra ribbon on the end where I would finish the seam. Just before I got to the point where the ribbon ends met, I tucked the extra bit of ribbon under and layered that over the raw edge of the ribbon that I had already sewed down at the start of my seam. I hope that’s not too confusing! (See pic below) I should have lined the ribbon seam up with the leg seam, but this was my first attempt. I did with the other pair of jeans.

I was thinking this would be an easy way to embellish store bought jeans–for baby or mommy–for an even easier project.